1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has as an object a harvester for grapes or other berries which can be adapted to use with an agricultural device such as a tractor, or even preferably to a treatment device, this apparatus itself comprising a container which can be placed under reduced pressure and a pump which is normally used to evacuate the said container, and all other elements which may serve useful functions in the present case. The device of the invention alternately having the form of an independent motorized vehicle which is specifically constructed for this purpose.
2. Description of Prior Art
Known grape harvesters are generally constituted by automotive vehicles which comprise thresher type elements whose function it is to impart a vibrational movement to the vines which is relatively rapid and of low amplitude, so as to cause the grapes carried on the vine to fall into retractable scales arranged at the base of the apparatus which successively surround each base of the grape vine stalk and from which the grapes are directd by diverse means (conveyor or bucket chain) towards a container carried by the vehicle itself or which follows in close proximity thereto. Diverse devices such as mechanical or pneumatic sorters complete the system for purposes of removing leaves collected by the machine.
Such devices, which are bulky, heavy and expensive and difficult to maneuver, present numerous inconveniences. The sheets of oscillating beaters, which circulate on both sides of the vine and which shake it, damage a large quantity of grapes, resulting in a harvest which is signficantly damaged, and which is strongly susceptible to oxidation during subsequent transportation. For the same reason that a substantial flow of juice is caused, a not unsubstantial portion of which impregnates the vegetation remaining on the ground, which is completely lost, and another portion falls on the ground causing yet further loss.
Furthermore the shaking imparted to the vines detach many leaves therefrom which contaminate the harvest. They also cause numerous vine shoots and even more important parts of the vegetation to be torn off. They also damage the solidity of the spikes or supports which support the vine. They also damage future harvests by injuring the buds of the following year because of the shocks to which they are subjected.
Other known devices, of a different type, rely upon a strong pneumatic vacuum to detach the grapes and to draw them through one or several aspiration sleeves into a receptacle container generally carried by the apparatus itself.
Such devices have the inconvenience of a total absence of automation, the worker having to direct the suction orifice in front of each of the clusters to be harvested. Furthermore the large air flow necessary to create a vacuum sufficient to remove the grapes without mechanical means and to pull them into pipes results in a very substantial oxidation of the product, which further finds itself highly lacerated by its high speed of movement. Finally the process also results in numerous leaves being torn off, which further detracts from the quality of the harvest.